Gawsworth Old Hall - History

History

The original house on the site dated from the Norman era. The earliest documentary reference is the granting of a licence for the administration of a chapel within the house in 1365. The house was then owned by Thomas Fitton, who had inherited it by marriage in 1316, and it remained in the possession of the Fitton family until 1611. The original house was replaced in the 15th and 16th centuries. Building started in 1480, and continued in stages until about 1600. Since then, parts of the house have been demolished, and others have been considerably altered. It is considered by the architectural historians Peter de Figueiredo and Julian Treuherz that the site of the house was originally moated, and that its plan was that of a quadrangle, forming a courtyard house.

In 1579 the house was inherited by Sir Edward Fitton III on the death of his father, Sir Edward Fitton II. Sir Edward III was the father of Mary Fitton, a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth and a candidate for the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets. Following the death of Sir Edward Fitton, 2nd Baronet in 1643, the estate passed to Sir Charles Gerard, later the first Earl of Macclesfield. There was a dispute about the legal ownership of the estate between Sir Charles and Alexander Fitton, which seemed to be settled by 1663. Demolition of parts of the house took place in about 1700, and it is thought by de Figueiredo and Treuherz that the west range was removed, possibly including the gatehouse. At the beginning of the 18th century the dispute between the Fittons and the Gerards resurfaced, culminating in a duel in Hyde Park, London, in 1712 between the rival claimants: Lord Mohun, from the Gerard family, and the 4th Duke of Hamilton, from the Fittons. Both of the combatants were killed. The estate remained with the Gerards, until it was bought by William Stanhope, who later became the first Earl of Harrington, and it remained with this family until 1935. The house was owned by the Cheshire antiquary Raymond Richards until his death in 1978. Richards collected items from historic buildings that were being demolished in the 1960s, either incorporating them into the house or displaying them in the grounds. The house is still owned and run by the Richards family.